The World's Billionaires

#616 John Catsimatidis

03.10.10, 06:00 PM EST

New York real estate tycoon plans to build oceanfront towers in southern Brooklyn "as soon as we sense the market is turning around." Apartment buildings will cater to city dwellers sick of traffic-ridden trips to the Hamptons or Jersey shore.

New York real estate tycoon plans to build oceanfront towers in southern Brooklyn "as soon as we sense the market is turning around." Apartment buildings will cater to city dwellers sick of traffic-ridden trips to the Hamptons or Jersey shore. Opened first grocery store at 100th St. and Broadway 1969; owned 10 stores by age 24, made $25 million a year in revenue. Plowed $5 million into Manhattan real estate 1977; property worth $100 million 5 years later. Today his Red Apple Group owns hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of real estate, New York's Gristedes grocery chain. Best asset: United Refining Co. Firm owns 372 gas stations, Pennsylvania refinery.